Ever wanted to be in charge? Well, in my own little world I will be, one day. Just not quite yet. I'm a bit tired at the moment... maybe I'll take over after I've had my little nap.
The United Dingdom - stating the bleeding obvious so you don't have to.
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Wednesday, 1 June 2016

Free Speech on Trial

Hush. Tell nobody. I may be breaking the law by even
thinking these thoughts, let alone writing them down. Paul Grange had what he
thought was a funny idea for a sick joke, so he had it printed on a tee-shirt
and now he may be facing a prison term. Why? Because he committed the now
cardinal sin of offending ‘certain people’. As it happens I have literally zero
interest in or concern for the ‘victims’ of H***s***ough, other than being
uneasy about the way that the ‘V’ word now appears to confer special privileges.
It’s not just the denizens of the city of eternal maudlin grief though; it is
all too easy these days to self-identify with one of an increasing number of
victim groups and demand different treatment.

The special snowflakes and their safe spaces on
university campuses around the western world stamp and screech that they must
not be offended. Similarly, the Caroline Criado-Perezes of the misandrous
neo-feminazi sect insist that their views alone be considered and all others
dismissed. Even Turkey’s President Erdogan demands his own personal right not
to be the butt of jokes, no matter how easy a target he makes of himself. And
you can forget about imagining this is only about genuine verbal violence, even
relatively mild humour faces the same charges; it is now practically illegal to
tell a joke if another party fails to find it funny. Soon this could be grounds
for divorce; "Dey bombed ar chippie!" could be cited as spousal abuse.

But it gets worse: as the architects of their own
butt-hurt choose what to find offensive they also get to to claim a special status above that of mere mortals; they imagine themselves
as crusaders for justice, irreproachable and morally right. In the extreme they
get to create new and lucrative roles as advisers to higher powers – real
powers – as to what is appropriate behaviour for everybody else. Joining the
ranks of economists, climate-fear peddlers and racism-definers is a new class
of expert – the offence-adviser – whose weapon of choice is ‘hate speech’. It’s
a booming business and could prove lucrative; students are already studying
ways of identifying ever finer grades and shades of anguish.

Nobody denies that words can bite but, in Britain at
least, we used to refuse to let words cause actual harm. Stiff upper lip, ignore
and walk away... don’t let them see they’ve got to you. There is an
inevitability in the constant desire to seek recognition and redemption; perversely
it only keeps making it worse. The offence-seekers garner no respect for their
very public outrage, but they can’t seem to see why and would prefer to see crime
where there is little other than questionable taste. And their persistence has
paid off.

Do you find this offensive?

No longer are these moral freedom and justice warriors
alone in their fight. Their high-pitched screeches have recruited powerful
allies and now the EU is giving itself powers to decide at which point your
free speech becomes hate speech. Instead of ignoring you or trying to appeal to
your better nature they will simply criminalise your opinions and in policing
opinions they will be repressing your ability to express what you think.
Thought crime is real. Think twice before you post that witty repost... It is
beyond a joke.